GB2213968A

GB2213968A - Vehicle queue control apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2213968A
Application number: GB8729372A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Charles Evans; Brian Billington; Colin Billington
Original assignee: QUEUECALL COMMUNICATIONS LIMIT
Current assignee: QUEUECALL COMMUNICATIONS LIMIT
Priority date: 1987-12-16
Filing date: 1987-12-16
Publication date: 1989-08-23
Anticipated expiration: 2007-12-16
Also published as: GB2213968B; GB8729372D0

Abstract

A filling station forecourt is provided with a plurality of fuel pumps (10) and at the entrance (12) to the forecourt, is an indicator (14) which indicates which pumps (10) are expected to become free first and second. A plurality of sensors (16) are provided in the forecourt to determine the presence of vehicles in the vicinity of each pump (10) and using signals from the sensors (16) and from the fuel pumps (10), a control unit determines which pumps are most likely to become free first and second, and display this information on the indicator (14), thus making more efficient use of the fuel pumps and reducing the queuing on the forecourt. <IMAGE>

Description

DESCRIPTION VEHICLE QUEUE CONTROL APPARATUS The present invention relates to apparatus for controlling vehicle queues at fuel pumps on a filling station forecourt.

When a vehicle arrives at a filling station, it is necessary for the occupant of the vehicle to predict which fuel pump will be the next to be vacant, so that the vehicle may be filled with fuel with the minimum waiting period. At present, this is rather an unreliable prediction to make since it is difficult for the occupant of a vehicle to assess the situation at each pump. For example, there may be a vehicle already in position at a pump but the occupant of that vehicle may be about to drive away very shortly, making that pump available. Conversely, at another pump, a vehicle may have just arrived and may not have been filled with fuel. If a vehicle arriving at the station were to select the latter fuel pump, the occupant would be faced with a long wait, whereas if the occupant had selected the former fuel pump his vehicle could have been fuelled much more quickly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for indicating to the occupant of a vehicle as to which of the plurality of fuel pumps is/are expected to be free in the shortest time, thereby detaining the occupant and vehicle for the shortest possible time and also making more efficient use of the fuel pumps.

In accordance with the present invention, apparatus for informing an occupant of a vehicle as to which of a plurality of fuel pumps on a filling station forecourt is expected to be free in the shortest time, comprises vehicle sensing means for determining the presence of vehicles in the area adjacent to the fuel pumps, means for sensing the operation of the fuel pumps, control means for receiving signals from the vehicle sensing means and the fuel pump operation sensing means, and indicating means controlled by the control means for indicating which fuel pump or pumps is/are expected to be free in the shortest time, as calculated by the control means.

In this way, a vehicle entering the station can immediately be driven to that fuel pump where the shortest delay is expected.

Preferably, the control means is able to sense the condition when the dispensing of fuel has been completed at the pumps, but the vehicle has not left the pump.

This corresponds to a person having filled his vehicle with fuel and having proceeded to a cashier in order to pay for his fuel.

Preferably, the control means is able to identify for each pump whether that pump is vacant, whether a vehicle has arrived at the pump, whether the pump is actually in use and whether the dispensing of fuel has been completed but the vehicle has not left the pump.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises further vehicle sensing means for sensing the presence of vehicles at the approach to the fuel pumps. The further vehicle sensing may be used for sensing that one or more cars are waiting behind a customer at a particular pump.

There may also be vehicle sensing means at one or more of the entrances to the filling station forecourt, to detect when a vehicle has entered the filling station.

In a preferred embodiment, the sensing means for determining whether a particular pump is vacant, and/or the sensing means for sensing the presence of vehicles at the approach to the fuel pumps comprise magnetic induction loops embedded in the station forecourt.

Alternatively, one or more of the sensing means may comprise a radar or passive infra-red detector or some other sensing device.

By way of example only, a specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a vehicle forecourt fitted with apparatus in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, a filling station forecourt is provided with four conventional fuel filling pumps 10. At the entrance 12 to the station forecourt is a magnetic induction loop 13 embedded in the ground, and an indicator 14 which indicates which pump 10 is expected to become free first, and which pump 10 is expected to become free second. On-either side of each pump 10 are two magnetic induction loops 16 embedded in the forecourt.

In use, a vehicle at the entrance to the station forecourt observes the indicating apparatus 14 and drives to the pump thus indicated, obviating the necessity to look and see which pump is free or is likely to become free shortly. As the vehicle passes over the loop 13, a signal is sent to the control unit 22, which then causes the indicating apparatus to change the number of the first available pump to that which was previously shown as the second available pump, and displays as the second available pump the previously undisplayed number of the third available pump. This is to prevent two or more closely-travelling vehicles from driving to the same indicated pump. The sensor 13 need not be an induction loop, but may, for example, be a radar , a passive infra-red detector or some other sensing device.

The operation of the apparatus is illustrated in the form of a flow diagram in Fig. 2. The flow diagram is for a single pump, and the sequence is identical for each individual pump.

The sequence starts first of all with step 20 wherein a signal is sent to an electronic control unit 22 if the pump is not in operation. In this circumstance, the signal, designated as signal "X" indicates either that the pump has been manually switched off or that it is not,functioning correctly. In this case, the particular pump will not be selected by the control means 22 for display on the indicating device 14.

Assuming that the pump is in operation, it is decided at step 24 whether the pump site is vacant. This is done by detecting signals from the magnetic induction loops 16 buried in the station forecourt. If at step 24 it is determined that the pump site is vacant it is then decided at step 26 whether any vehicles are queuing at the pump, for example behind a vehicle which has just moved away from the pump. This is determined by, for example, interrogating the signals from the buried magnetic induction loops 16 positioned in the second row behind the pumps. If this interrogation is negative, then a signal designated as "V", indicating that the pump is vacant and no vehicles are queuing, is sent to the control unit 22.If at step 26 it is determined that a vehicle is queuing at the pump, then a signal designated as "W" is sent to the control unit, and by virtue of a loop 28 the queuing condition at the pump is re-interrogated continuously. When, eventually, it is determined that no vehicles are queuing at the pump then a "V" signal is sent to the control unit and the "W" signal is cancelled, unless a further queuing vehicle causes a "W" signal to be sent, in addition to the "V" signal, via steps 24 and 26, which are continuously interrogated. More than one W signal, for example "WW", or "WWW", may be sent to the control unit if more than one vehicle is waiting.

Returning to step 24, if it is determined that the pump site is not vacant, i.e. that a vehicle is already in position at the pump, it is determined at step 26', in an identical fashion to step 26, whether any vehicles are queuing behind the vehicle at the pump. If a vehicle is, then a signal is sent to the control unit from one or more of the sensors, indicating, for example, that the pump has a status "W", "WW" or "WWW", i.e. that one, two or three vehicles are waiting, depending on the number of sensors from which a "W" signal is received. Whether or not a signal from one or more of the sensors is sent at step 26', it is determined at step 30 whether the pump is actually in use.

This may be done, for example by detecting whether the pump nozzle has been removed from the pump, by detecting the flow of fuel, or by detecting the curent flow to the pump motor. If it is determined that the pump is not serving fuel then a signal "A" is dispatched to the control unit 22 and one "W" signal is removed from the control unit 22. Via loop 32 this condition is continuously monitored until it is determined that the pump is, in fact, in use, whereupon a signal designated "F" is sent to control unit 22, and signal "A" is cancel led.

At step 34, it is determined whether the pump has finished dispensing fuel, and this can be most easily done by determining whether the fuel-filling nozzle has been replaced in position in the pump, or, alternatively, detecting the cessation of fuel flow or by detecting the cessation of current flow to the fuel pump motor. This condition is continuously monitored via the loop 36, until it is determined that the pump has finished dispensing, whereupon a signal designated as "C" is sent to the control unit 22, which also cancels the signal "F".

Once it is detected that the pump has finished dispensing it is then determined at step 38 whether the filled vehicle has vacated the pump site. This is continuously monitored via loop 40 until it is detected that the filled vehicle has left the pump site, whereupon the "C" signal (which indicated that the vehicle had finished fuelling but had not vacated the pump site) is cancelled. The procedure then returns to step 20, and the sequence is repeated continuously.

Thus, each pump sends one or more signals to the control unit 22 indicating that the pump is in a particular condition. For example, in a relatively offpeak time the condition of the pumps may be as follows: Pump 1: A Pump 2: C Pump 3: V Pump 4: W Clearly, with the four pumps in the above conditions, pump 3 will be selected as the first pump which is likely to offer the fastest service to an incoming vehicle (since that pump is vacant) and pump 2 will be designated as the pump which is likely to offer the second fastest service since the vehicle at that pump has been filled with fuel and will shortly be leaving.

In a busier time, the condition of the pumps may be as follows: Pump 1: FW Pump 2: CW Pump 3: AW Pump 4: FW In the above case, pump 2 will be indicated on the indicator 14 as being the pump likely to be free soonest, since all the pumps are in the operation and have one car queuing, but the user of pump 2 has finished using the pump and it is likely that pump 2 will therefore be available soonest. Both pumps 1 and 4 are indicated as being in condition FW, and in this case the pump likely to become free second soonest is the one which first switched over from condition A (in which a vehicle is in position at a pump but has not started filling) to condition F (wherein the pump is actually dispensing fuel).

The selection of the pump most likely to be free first of all is done on the basis of two aspects of the information fed into the control unit 22. Firstly, the number of cars at each pump is used to determine which pump is likely to be free soonest. Thus, the pump having the lowest number of vehicles is always selected as the one most likely to be free soonest. If two or more pumps have the same number of vehicles, then the signals associated with each pump are interrogated in the priority order of "V", "C", "F", "A", and "W".

Thus, if two pumps have the same number of vehicles, the pump having a designated condition highest up in the above priority order will be selected by the control unit as the one most likely to be free in the shortest time. Thus, a pump in the condition "C" will be selected before a pump in the condition "A". If two pumps have the same number of vehicles and are in the same condition, then the selection is done on the basis of which pump entered that condition first. The pump entering the condition first is put higher in the priority order than the later pump.

The selection for the pump likely to become vacant second fastest is also done on the above basis.

A slightly different, but generally similar, selection involves the control unit monitoring the signals from each pump sensor and assigning to each detected signal a numerical value depending upon the status of the sensor. For example, the priority order "V", "C", "F", "A" and "W" above may be in ascending numerical order, and the pump having the lowest numerical value is selected as the pump most likely to become free next. Where a pump has a combination of signals, e.g. "FWW", the numerical value assigned to the pump is the sum of the numerical values of the statuses making up that combination.

As mentioned previously, the pumps most likely to become available first and second soonest respectively are displayed on the indicator 14, which may, for example, be in the form of two 7-segment LED displays.

The invention may also be used in conjunction with an audio information/instruction apparatus. For example, when the filling nozzle of a pump is removed, an audible message may be triggered. For example, the message may state what types or grades of fuel are available at that pump. Alternatively, or in addition, a message (e.g. an advertising message) may be played when the filling nozzle is replaced.

However, it is important that a message should only be played at one pump at a time, otherwise the messages from different pumps may be confusing. Thus, the removal of the nozzles from their respective fuel pumps is stored in the control unit 22, such that the audio messages at the pumps are played, one at a time, in the order in which the nozzles were removed. This is done under the control of the control unit 22 which holds the sequence of removal of the nozzles and control audio playback apparatus, such as tape recorders, associated with each pump.

A system such as that described in co-pending application number 86 11384 may be used in this respect.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment.

Claims

1. Apparatus for informing an occupant of a vehicle as to which of a plurality of fuel pumps on a filling station forecourt is expected to be free in the shortest time, comprising vehicle sensing means for determining the presence of vehicles in the area adjacent to the fuel pumps, means for sensing the operation of the fuel pumps, control means for receiving signals from the vehicle sensing and the fuel pump operation sensing means, and indicating means controlled by the control means for indicating which fuel pump or pumps is/are expected to be free in the shortest time, as calculated by the control means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising further vehicle sensing means for sensing the presence of vehicles at the approach to the fuel pumps.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising vehicle sensing means at one or more of the entrances to the filling station forecourt.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vehicle sensing means comprise magnetic induction loops embedded in the ground.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sensing means comprises a radar.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the apparatus comprises an infra-red detector.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the control means is adapted to sense when dispensing of fuel from a pump has been completed, but the vehicle has not vacated the pump.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the control means assigns a status to each pump and selects the pump or pumps to be indicated on the indicating means on the basis of the assigned statuses.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein one of the statuses is that a pump is vacant.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein one of the statuses is that fuel has been dispensed from a pump but the filled vehicle has not yet left the vicinity of the pump.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein one of the statuses is that a pump is dispensing fuel.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein one of the statuses is that the pump is occupied but fuel is not yet being dispensed.

13. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 8 to 12, wherein one of the statuses is that one or more vehicles are waiting to use a pump.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the control means makes it selection of the pump most likely to be available on the basis of the statuses of the pumps in the following priority: a pump is vacant; a pump has completed dispensing of fuel; a pump is filling a vehicle with fuel; a pump is occupied but has not yet started dispensing fuel; and one or more vehicles are waiting to use the pump.

15. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 8 to 14, wherein the status of each pump is assigned a numerical value, and the pump with the most appropriate numerical value is selected as the pump most likely to become available soonest.

16. Apparatus for informing an occupant of a vehicle as to which of a plurality of fuel pumps on a filling station forecourt is expected to be free in the shortest time, substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.